Bits and Pieces

A day when I thought I'd have time to read turned out to be the opposite. Mindless administration at work and acquiring information on my three on going union cases seemed to take up much of the day. Since April's Mid Essex AGM I've taken on the role of Secondary School caseworker Elaine thinks I should have delayed the take over till September, but I didn't. Cases now seems to come like buses in two and threes. Nearly thirty years ago I was Divisional Secretary of the Havering Association, so after a very extended break I'm getting involved again in trade union activity. How times have altered the role of trade unions in British society. The early 80s before the Miners Strike of 84-85 were years of optimism in spite of Thatcher's election victory in 1979. Today the Unions sem more marginal, yet as the last month has shown still vitally necessary to defend workers' rights in the workplace.

The morning paper reported that the Faces are going on tour. Back in 1970-71 they were the band, Rod Stewart lived the dream of music,booze, football and blondes. Rod went through a dodgy spell to say the least, but his popularity perhaps based on those ho remember him from 1971 still endures. A recent review explained that he coped well with the ballads but on he rockers he danced liked the middle aged uncle at a wedding. Anyway the Faces without Rod is like fish and chips without vinegar. Almost bizarrely Mick Hucknall has been lined up as the vocalist, frankly unthinkable and possibly unlistenable.

The other news is the fact that we have been offered two tickets for the test match at Lords on Saturday, at a knockdown price. Hopefully the weather will hold, there's nothing quite like test match cricket, and against Bangladesh, realistically only the weather should prevent an England victory. The tickets come from a contact of Mark's, my daughter's fiance, who works for Lloyds Bank. This caused some amusement at work, me being entertained by a group of bankers and the prospect of a dress code.

The on going transfer saga of Cesc Fabregas lurches on, today Cesc has talked about his respect for Arsene Wenger and that he will allow Arsene to determine whether he is sold. All rather unusual coming from a player allegedly seeking a move, but perhaps the admiration between the two is far deeper than the transfer gossip columns of the papers can handle. Cesc clearly wants to focus on Spain's world cup campaign, as far as Arsenal are concerned, we'll know once the Club starts advertising the new home shirt. If Cesc doesn't feature in the adverts then the writing is on the wall.